Chicken Soup and ?...

While western scientists have only recently begun to admit that chicken soup has curative properties, the Chinese have been treating illnesses with chicken soup for centuries. A warming or yang food, chicken may be combined with a number of other ingredients, from spinach (a cooling food, thought to promote digestion and reduce constipation) to cordyceps, a rare plant grown in Tibet that is thought to increase stamina. And then there's gingko nuts, believed to improve memory. Less well known is that, in traditional Chinese medicine, gingko is believed to have a healing effect on the lungs. In The Chinese Kitchen, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo notes that in the past chicken soup with gingko nuts was prescribed as a cure for coughs.

Tags: Chicken soup